Mr. Speaker, I protest the cuts being planned for the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg, not just with respect to the Freshwater Institute in Winnipeg but also with respect to the experimental lakes project in and around Kenora which is apparently threatened by the same set of cutbacks. I say to the government that these kinds of cutbacks are acutely shortsighted.
There is not just the fiscal deficit. There is what we sometimes call the human deficit. There is also what we call the environmental deficit. A lot of very good research having to do with acid rain and other environmental problems has gone on under the auspices of the institute.
It is shortsighted in the extreme to cut off this research. We may well regret many years from now that the government saw fit to do away with this research. I urge the government to take a second look at its plans in this regard.